<p>Here's part of a PM I sent to someone regarding Yale sciences; it answers some of your questions.</p>
<p>Yale is strong in the natural sciences, even relative to its peer schools, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. Yale recently pledged $1 billion towards further building the sciences and engineering. </p>
<p>Yale has a top bio program (The graduate program is ranked #7 nationally by US News, but grad rankings aren't so relevant for undergrad) and is one of few schools (or possibly the only school) to offer the major Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. I'm a MCDB (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Bio) major and the course offerings here really sealed the deal for me. There are courses in neurobiology, biotechnology, electron microscopy lab (!), and there's even a rainforest exhibition course where Yale pays for your travel to one of the world's remote rainforests to collect specimens and due research on them over the summer (with a stipend). Also, 95% of science majors at Yale do independent research with a faculty member and usually 100-200 undergrads co-author published research papers EACH year. </p>
<p>I'm currently a sophomore and I easily got research at the School of Medicine, where I'm doing a project on intracellular kinases and cell signaling for human melanoma cell lines (with the intent of developing better treatments for melanoma). I'm only a sophomore, but plenty of freshmen get involved in research too. There are formal programs such as Perspectives on Science and STARS, both of which provide full funding and stipends to do research with a prominent Yale faculty member over the summer.</p>
<p>Finally, if you're interested in medicine, you should note that Yale sends 94-96% of its premeds to medical school. Compare this with Stanford University, where only 75% of premeds get into a medical school, for whatever reason (surprising, isn't it?). </p>
<p>You should take a look at some of the amazing course offerings on Yale</a> Online Course Information | Search Courses. Yale really is one of the best places in the world to learn science; the faculty are devoted to teaching and knowing their undergrad students, research opportunities abound, and the premed and other pre-science career fields receive superior advising (note the superior placement Yale grads receive in graduate schools). </p>
<p>I could really go on forever, but Yale is an AMAZING place to study science. (Not to mention everything else that's amazing here.)</p>
<p>(As for your question about meeting famous people, Barry Sharpless, Nobel Laureate, gave a lecture to my Orgo class today. Another nobel laureate was one of my professors for Molecular Biology. Tony Blair teaches here, Emma Watson is applying here, and Denzel Washington, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Edward Norton, Meryl Streep, Jerry Seinfeld, R.L. Stine, George Bush Jr. and Sr., Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger, and countless others have been on campus to talk to undergrads within the last few years.)</p>